Miesha Tate vs. Ronda Rousey: A Volatile Mix

Oil and Water

Strikeforce
women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate
on Saturday will defend her title against Olympic bronze medalist
Ronda
Rousey at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, in what
appears to be the last significant female MMA fight on the
horizon.

Although the highly anticipated clash at Strikeforce
“Tate vs. Rousey” has been publicized to the hilt, Tate does
not see it as her biggest fight to date.

“It’s weird. Publicity-wise, it is my biggest fight, and it’s also
my first title defense, so if I can seal the deal on this, I think
it really says a lot about me being here to stay as a champion and
definitely being a force to be reckoned with,” Tate told
Sherdog.com. “I don’t believe I’m here by fluke, although I think
some people kind of question whether I’m truly champion material,
and I want to prove that. But as far as match-up wise, I don’t
think it’s my biggest fight to date.

“She just hasn’t accomplished what a lot of the other girls that
I’ve already fought have accomplished, yet she’s kind of jumping
ahead of a few of them,” she added. “I don’t necessarily feel that
that’s right, but the thing about Ronda is what she does do she’s
really good at; but I just have a lot of questions about what she
can’t do, and I think there’s a lot of holes in her game, as
well.”

Rousey’s limited cage experience has become a point of contention
with many detractors.

“There’s just a certain element that you can’t ever re-create:
experience,” Tate said. “Cage time is invaluable; you can’t put a
price tag on it and you can’t re-create it no matter how many times
you spar or practice or train with your training partners. It’s
just something you learn by being in there and doing it, and she
just doesn’t have much of that.”

Ronda
Rousey

Rousey is 4-0.

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker has responded to
critics by pointing out that Rousey has many years of experience in
judo, with plenty of national and international competition and
success under her belt. When Rousey compares training for the
Olympics with training for this title fight, it becomes clear which
experience she finds more valuable.

“Going to the Olympics is something that I’d been thinking about
and obsessing about and training for my entire life,” she told the
Sherdog
Radio Network’s “Rewind” program. “That exact Olympics was in
every single thought of every day in the four years since the one
before. This title fight with Miesha Tate only entered my mind a
few months ago. It’s not like it’s one day that’s the pinnacle of
everything I’ve been working for my entire life. It’s something
that I thought would be a cool idea a few months ago.”

Rousey has drawn criticism from some for rushing into a title fight
inside a division in which she has never competed, leaving many to
speculate that she wants to avoid strikers in the featherweight
division.

“I think she’s trying to dodge a lot of people,” Tate said. “I
think she’s trying to dodge [Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos]. I think
she’s trying to dodge Sarah
Kaufman, because, for some reason, she thinks Sarah Kaufman
would be a tougher matchup for her, which I completely disagree
with. I think that Sarah’s susceptible to foot sweeps and throws,
as we’ve seen in her past, and she’s better at defending the
wrestling. She’s more of a sprawl-and-brawl kind of girl and is
susceptible to foot sweeps because she’s very light on her feet, so
I think, stylistically, it would be an easier matchup for Ronda to
fight Kaufman than it would be to fight me.

“Even [UFC television analyst] Joe Rogan said that you’re a tougher
matchup as a strong wrestler because wrestling can shut down judo,
so once her judo’s shut down, then what?” she added. “What does she
have in her toolbox inside this whopping year of her MMA career?
I’m sure she has more than just an armbar, but I’m not confident
that she has anywhere near the skill set that I have.”

Rousey makes no apology for talking her way into a title shot.

“If you’re not going to take every single avenue to try to sell
yourself, if you’re only going to do it on performance only, then
it’s going to take longer,” she said. “If your performances aren’t
that exciting and your interviews aren’t that exciting and the way
you present yourself isn’t all that interesting, why do you expect
people to want to see you fighting?”

Tate has been quite verbal about her disagreement with Rousey’s
approach. Although she acknowledges Rousey might deserve of a title
shot, she does not believe the judoka is as deserving as Kaufman or
Alexis
Davis. Those two women will meet on the undercard in a de facto
title eliminator.

“In my opinion, those girls are still ahead of her,” Tate said.
“She leapfrogged a lot of people, and I don’t have a whole lot of
respect for her because of that. And it was premeditated. How about
you let your skills speak for you rather than your loud mouth? I
definitely think that there’s other fighters that are more worthy
than Ronda, and it is frustrating that Ronda is the one getting the
limelight when there’s so many other girls that have worked way
harder than her and have put in their time and are more deserving
than she is, yet she’s a cute girl and she runs her mouth a
lot.

“That’s kind of frustrating, that people feed into that to such an
extreme degree, and that’s why she’s getting this possibility --
more her mouth than her skill set by far,” she added. “She’s not
the number one contender at 135 [pounds]. She’s not.”

“

She leapfrogged a lot
of people, and I don’t
have a whole lot of
respect for her because
of that.

”

-- Miesha Tate, Strikeforce
champion

Rousey has stated publicly that Kaufman should be grateful to her
for bringing women’s MMA more exposure and has gone so far as to
claim that Tate is upset because it took her six months to do what
it took the champion six years to accomplish.

“Six years ago, women’s MMA was unheard of -- and it’s because me
and Sarah Kaufman and Tara [LaRosa] and Marloes
Coenen -- we’ve been laying the groundwork so we can even get
the opportunity, and she comes in on this high horse,” Tate said.
“I have no idea what she’s even talking about: ‘Oh yeah, you guys
should be thanking me because I’ve been doing this all for women’s
MMA, and I’m so great and I’m so awesome and without me women’s MMA
would be nowhere,’ and we should all be kissing her ass. That
really bothers me.”